ch241-ch260 · 253-ch253

Chapter 253: A Guide to Conquering Floor 40 Part 2

'It's here! Chiharu, fall back!'

Thirty minutes into the boss area, 'Sword Saint-chan' had been cutting down half the ground golems with room to spare—and at last, the Manticore makes its entrance.

The comment feed, sluggish until now, suddenly hits full speed.

・Couldn't we just leave it all to that girl?

・ｷﾀ━━━ヽ(∀ﾟ )人(ﾟ∀ﾟ)人( ﾟ∀)ノ━━━!!

・And I'm supposed to believe all that rushing around was necessary

・The timing of its descent is completely random, after all

'It came early today......'

'Sword Saint-chan' returns to the front of the 'Gate to Floor 39' leading the Manticore, muttering in disappointment.

・【Sad News】 it was one of the fast days

・Good work out there

・You were REALLY about to wipe out every golem on the floor, huh

・Useless as a reference, lol

・Also, that face is terrifying

'Chanting! Magic incoming! Enhancement...... complete! Kaito, your turn.'

The Manticore finishes its chant, and countless icicles the size of traffic cones come flying.

The Manticore's face is less an old man's than a wrinkled-up old grandpa's.

No chance it was a cute girl, huh......

Shame, really—but if it had been cute, I might not have been able to attack it. Call it a lucky escape.

'【Wide Shield】!'

Kaito-san steps out alone in front of the 'Gate to Floor 39' and deploys his shield skill.

A skill that raises an invisible (faintly visible) shield guarding a wider area than the physical shield ever could.

Word is, its breadth and hardness both scale with the user's proficiency.

The icicles strike, and the shield stands without budging an inch as an ear-splitting barrage cracks against it, an ice wall piling up on its face.

・That sound is insane—and it's not even stopping!?

・That 【Wide Shield】 is huge? Nothing like mine!?

・It's so...... big......

・No way an ordinary 【Shielder】 could guard a whole party with that

・This one's useless as a reference too, lol

・That's just standard. Even I could do it

・↑Here comes the master, lol

At last, the magic attack lets up.

'Yukiya!'

'Still out of range. Asuka!'

'【Downburst】!'

'Alright—【Snipe】!'

・Advanced magic incoming ｷﾀ━━━ヽ(∀ﾟ )人(ﾟ∀ﾟ)人( ﾟ∀)ノ━━━!!

・Go get 'eeeem

・Aaaaah, MISSED——

・＼(^o^)／

・What are you even doing

・St-still, awwawawawawah

・Five shots left, and you can reel the winch back in and try again

・【Homing】 would've hit

・【Hunter】 doesn't get 【Homing】

The plan was an advanced wind spell to force the Manticore's altitude down, then shoot an arrow into it—but the advanced magic dragged the arrow's trajectory down with it.

【Snipe】 is a skill that looses an arrow at whatever spot you aim for, but it seems to be affected by the wind.

A proper bow job could use the tracking 【Homing】—but 【Hunter】 is a scout-class that happens to use a bow.

'What are you doing, idiot!'

'Shut up! This is YOUR magic's fault!'

'Calm down! Once more. It descends whenever it casts, so next time wait until the 【Downburst】 stops before you shoot. Chiharu, gather the arrows. Kaito—it's coming from directly above next.'

・They're fighting, lol

・Wait, it doesn't get knocked out of the sky even eating advanced magic?

・Ah, it ran......

・Weird, isn't it? Compared to other monsters it's way too smart

・Well, it's got a human face, so maybe its brain's human-grade too. No idea, though

The Manticore had been flying lower, but sensing danger, it's now much higher than before.

Ao-san uses a skill to hurl a short knife at it, and while it reaches, the power falls short and it gets knocked away.

"UGAAAAAH—"

Even so, it apparently succeeded in enraging the Manticore.

It comes back down in about a minute.

'【Wide Shield】! 【Magic Shield】!'

You'd think it was a rerun—but whether to avoid the 'Gate to Floor 39' or not, this time the Manticore attacks with magic from directly overhead.

Even blocked by the 【Wide Shield】, an ice wall builds atop the invisible shield.

Left alone they'd be crushed, so he must have layered the 【Magic Shield】 on top.

The falling icicles vanish the instant they touch the invisible shield.

【Magic Shield】 is a skill that erases magic attacks outright.

'【Downburst】! ......Countdown, three, two, one—now.'

'【Snipe】!'

Flawless teamwork......

The arrow sinks beautifully into the Manticore's chest.

・Did they get it?

・Did they get it? (flag)

・Did they get it? (no)

Yep, not yet.

The arrow hasn't reached the magic stone, so it's still looking lively.

It is five meters long, after all.

That chest has to be thick as a wall.

'Yukiya, keep firing. Do NOT let it escape. Asuka, it's coming down—don't be late on the dodge.'

'Kaito will catch me, so it's fine.'

'That's a bit much, even for me.'

One wire anchor apparently isn't enough reassurance—Ao-san orders more shots driven in.

The Manticore beats its wings hard, trying to regain altitude, but the wires are drawn taut—a tug-of-war with the ground.

"GRAAAAH—Gyah!"

Then a second and a third wire anchor bite in, its movement is bound, and it plunges headfirst.

'Charge! Watch only the serpent's tail!'

'Blue Ocean', already clear of the landing zone, moves in for the kill.

After that, it was one-sided.

Kaito-san lands a 【Shield Bash】 on the nose of the Manticore, still tangled and off-balance from its fall.

He must have used his Provoke-type skill too, because from then on it never attacked anyone else.

Ao-san heads straight for the serpent's tail, sword first.

・Apparently it's a venomous snake.

・Floor 40 means if it bites you, you're dead, right?

・Can't production jobs like 【Pharmacist】 make serum?

・↑No info yet. Isn't there some recipe-revealing skill?

・Wouldn't bringing back the venom gland let a hospital make it?

'【Frontal Bamboo Split】!'

Furuta Yukiya unleashes a 【Samurai】 skill.

The finishing blow on the Manticore, now barely able to move.

Word is, if you can strike along the body's centerline head-on, this skill cuts through without any resistance.

The old man's face splits in two, clean.

Against a nearly immobilized target it actually worked—but this skill is famous for never activating.

・Gore warning

・There it is, the scam skill lol

・Did they get it?

・WOoooooOO, the pride of all we 【Samurai】——

・That was a clean cut

・'Sword Saint-chan' could probably master that skill, though

The 'Sword Saint-chan' in question is standing in front of the Queen.

Doing nothing at all, it seems—and yet she'd been properly doing her job of guarding the back line.

She never even drew her sword, though.

'Magic stone's good! We run. Kaito, take point.'

'On it.'

'Well then, good luuuck~'

'Hey, you're the model here—run with us!'

'The other two already went~'

・The 'Queen' is such a cheat lol

・Transparent

・Wait, did I just see something for a second there?

・MIE-MIE (transparent)

・They edit these—if it showed, they'd cut it

・Meaning the raw footage has...... gulp

・This time, for once, it's genuinely visible. Watch it again if you don't believe me

・'Sword Saint-chan' waiting for them is admirable

With the boss down, the 'Gate to Floor 41' on the far side has opened, and all that's left is the escape.

Apparently the wire anchors don't get retrieved.

They're jammed into the ground and won't come out, so of course......

The 'Queen of the Sky' flies off through the sky, applying her special skill 【Levitation】 with wind magic.

The classic "something flashed" comments are flying everywhere.

Golems don't attack at range, so if you take enough altitude, you're safe.

Golems—or rather, even in the HQ dungeon, enemies with ranged attacks are few.

Bows and magic: the goblin archers are on Floor 9, and then the magic-casting orcs from about Floors 16 to 20?

Those don't have much range either, so aside from this Manticore, she's actually invincible up there.

・A little early, but good work

・Thanks. Couldn't copy it, but great video

・Rip.

・I learned...... nothing

・So with an upper-rank shield job and bow job you could manage? For reference, I'm Single

・Even after grounding it you'd need to know its movements, and in reality you're doing all this surrounded by golems

・↑That's the truth. This time they had time before the Manticore showed, but Ao-san said in another video it sometimes comes flying the instant it spawns

・And this is 'Sword Saint-chan' not even trying. Terrifying

・What this video proves is that 'Blue Ocean' can break Floor 40 even without 'Sword Saint-chan'

・↑If my party had Level 48, we could do it too

Amid the flood of praise and everything else, 'Blue Ocean' arrives safely at the 'Gate to Floor 41'.

The video is nearly over, and they're moving into closing remarks.

"Extremely helpful. Thank you for your hard work. waves"

Clack-clack-clack, and off it goes.

I rewatched that video so many times after this.

......Didn't see it, though.